There were book sales at three of the main libraries in my city this month, which made my April book buying absolutely out of control. I’m lucky to live in a city with this many libraries and this many sales (my favorite 2 libraries have sales every 4-6 months, and occasionally I’ll hit another library sale if I’m in that area). Usually the sales don’t all fall together like this, and usually all the library sales aren’t this good! Sometimes I’ll walk out of a sale with nothing, or only find one or two tempting titles. But this time…this time I struck gold at not one, not two, but three sales!

Here’s what I picked up at Book Sale #1:

Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins: I was totally shocked to find this at a used book sale, since it just came out last September. I added it to my TBR pretty much instantly after hearing about it, and feel like this is the book I’ll end up picking up first. It’s a near-future scifi set in Southern California, and it’s an ARC, and I’ve never read an ARC before. If anyone has, how much do they tend to differ from the final book?

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward: this won the National Book Award in 2011, and centers on a pregnant teenager and her family in Mississippi; it sounds like it will be heartbreaking.

Neuromancer by William Gibson: this is sort of a sci-fi classic (although it was published in the 80’s) and I’ve heard it referenced so much that I need to experience it for myself.

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende: Generational saga with magical realism that sounds like it’ll be completely absorbing.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: I got really into Marquez senior year of high school when I read both One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, and then somehow have not picked up one of his books since then.

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll: total impulse purchase, but for $1 it’s hard not to give in! It was sitting next to Gold, Fame, Citrus and then suddenly it was in my hand. It’s gotten Gone Girl comparisons and that’s enough of a temptation for me to try it. Has anyone read this? Would you recommend it?

And I’ve already read these two, but I like to buy books that I loved if I see them at library book sales so that I can reread them or refer back to the stories:

Euphoria by Lily King: highly recommended short novel about anthropologists in New Guinea

Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson: mystery surrounding a murder that delves into racism against Japanese-Americans in the WWII era

 

 

Parts 2 and 3 of my library book sale buying binge to come! Try not to judge me too hard for my excessive book purchases 😉